The Second Night of Clix-Mas

I am SO excited to see these characters Clix’d!! Well… most of them. Like at least one of the Crushers. Two Thirds of this set will be sooooo awesome!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Clix-Mas 2018, wherein we here at Critical Missives rather foolishly try to provide you with twelve different articles in twelve days, all brought to you by either the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, or the Ghost of Christmas Future! If you need to catch up with our intro to all of this, the first Night of Clix-Mas 2018 can be found in our previous post!]

So, who’s excited for a full, 5-figure Star Trek: TNG set?

Well, put your hands down, cuz it ain’t happening.

Instead, WizKids split the set in two. What’s more, they also decided to use a Gravity Feed distribution model AND delayed both parts until next year.

Way to stoke that Trek excitement WizKids!!

Anyway, this preview will now focus on the first set (Resistance is Futile), due (for now) in June of 2019.

Now, I’ve watched EVERY episode of TNG multiple times. Unfortunately for me, I’m old enough that when I was growing up, staying up to watch a double dose of TNG repeats airing on the local UHF station from 11:30pm-1:30am was the height of time-shifted entertainment (we’re talking ’92-’95-ish here). Those reruns are actually how I got into the show.

TNG remains my favorite version of Trek, so I had been imagining what my dream set would be for some time.

[AUTHOR’S NOTE:Eh, that could be a lie. Ask me on the right day and I’ll say DS9. Sisko was my always my favorite Captain, even if he was just a Commander for the first few seasons. He was a little more “man-of-action-y,” which led to more cool space battles, even if that wasn’t what Trek was ideally about.]

Now THAT is a tactical genius right there!

Now that we know what the rarity breakdown will be, I’m gonna try and get ultra-nerdy and come up with my ideal “Star Trek: Away Team: The Next Generation: Resistance Is Futile: Too Many Colons!” set!

Keep in mind, from the solicit we know that this first set will focus on Starfleet, Klingons, the Borg and Q Continuum as general themes.

001: Federation Security Officer— This piece would have the UFP TA, Sidestep with 1 Damage and RCE (“Set Phasers to Stun”) on the front end, Charge and 2 Damage on the back end. Four or five clicks. 50 Points or less.

002: Borg Drone– Five clicks for 50 points, although I would probably have 2 five click-dials and let the player choose which one they were fielding at the beginning of the game with a Trait that is literally called “Resistance is Futile.’

The first dial would be close-combat oriented; the second would be support-y.

“THE BORG: Once per turn, whenever a friendly character using this Team Ability is damaged by an opposing character’s attack, modify the Defense of all other friendly characters using this Team Ability by +1 until end of turn.”

Pulling… it… OFF!

003A: Borg Assimilator– Four clicks with the Borg TA and some sort of special Mind Control power that let them use one of a hit character’s printed powers when executing their Mind Control attack.

003B: Hugh– Hugh would be like a 75-100 Point Borg. I’m honestly not sure what power set I would give him (Shape Change? Support?) but he needs to be in this set!

004: Nurse Ogawa– Three Clicks with the UFP TA. Like 20 Points or so. She would have a Special Damage Power that reads “Second in Command of Sickbay: Support. Probability Control, but only to reroll rolls made while using the Support power.”

That wording gets a little clunky, but I think you get the gist.

Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra, bitches!

005: Tamarian First Officer– Because I don’t care what anybody says: “Darmok” was awesome, and it deserves a couple of references in this set. This guy would be 40-60 points with some B/C/F and Leadership mixed in (maybe even some Empower).

You can make a pretty strong argument that the Darmok characters are better thematic fits for the next TNG set, “To Boldly Go… ,” and you may be right. But they’re trying to jam all of the important Romulan, Ferengi, and Cardassian characters (and even freaking Armus, the oil slick that killed Tasha Yar) that appeared in TNG into that set, so I’m gonna put the Tamarians in this one.

006: Klingon Warrior– This would be your generic Klingon fighter. Think Asgardian Troll as far as the dial goes.

007: Ensign Wesley Crusher–<sigh> He has to be included. Look, I’m not trying to pile on–it’s kind of a cliche at this point to find Wesley a lil annoying–but he was an integral part of the show’s early seasons and frankly has to be in this set.

In his defense, his character got way less annoying when they actually put him in a uniform.

Anyway, this version would be pretty squishy but offer a pretty strong combination of Perplex and a conditional Outwit (“Non-commissioned Genius: Perplex. FREE: Choose a Team Ability possessed by an opposing character within range and line of fire. That character cannot use that Team Ability this turn.).

008: Amanda Rogers– If the Q Continuum is going to be a focus, I’d imagine they’re gonna put the only Q-kid from the series in here somewhere (probably not at Common, but that’s where I’m putting her!).

She would be more like 40 or like 90 points with some Support-y stuff up front, followed by a Stop click that activates her God Mode on her last two Clicks.

I also would not mind a Q Continuum Team Ability that mimicked the KC Team Ability (these are nigh-omnipotent beings after all).

Anyway, by putting her at Common, folks who pulled poorly would still have a good chance to get a higher point fig to build around.

Standard UFP Team Ability with some sort of mechanic that allows her to shift her allegiances after being KO’d or down dial (when she brutally betrayed the Federation and joined the evil Maquis! Yes, I realize that’s not how it went down…).

012: Chief Miles O’Brien– He has to be a Taxi, right? Only he would use some sort of Special Phasing/TK combo.

013: Dr. Leah Brahms– She would give a bonus to movement for other friendly characters and a special stat bonus to Geordi!

015: Dr. Katherine Pulaski– 45 Points. Support. UFP TA. Special Attack Power: “Beam Him Straight To Sickbay: POWER: Choose a friendly character with the Starfleet keyword that’s not not on their starting Click and give that character an Action Token. If you do, place that character in a square adjacent to Dr. Katherine Pulaski.

016: Gowron– Okay, they probably won’t put three Klingons in a row, but all three of these dudes are important Klingons in modern Trek lore.

017: K’mpec– The High Chancellor. He’d have Leadership that wouldn’t be adjacent-dependent for Klingons.

018: Duras– Would allow for Klingon/Romulon hybrid teams. Heck, I’d even bring back the Arch-Enemy ring for Duras and Worf!

PLUS… 9 RARES:

019: Lt. Commander Remmick– Think Brood Queen with all the power of Starfleet! this was one of the more disturbing storylines that Trek ever tried, even if they pulled the plug after two installments (what did ever happen to that signal Remmick sent at the end of “Conspiracy?”). I’d actually give him the Starfleet keyword and design a way for him to “infest” other characters with the Starfleet keyword–both friendly and opposing.

020: Worf-– 100 points. Kind of like a ranged Drax dial. Both Klingon and Starfleet keywords.

021: Captain Jean-Luc Picard– Title Character Picard!! This is where they should let their imaginations run wild!

I thought they were actually too restrained with the title characters from the Original Series Away Team set. I would rather see something that more easily affects the game board.

Like, what if Picard had the possibility to “promote” another piece with multiple starting lines up one dial (like when Mangog pulls the Odin sword?) as his ultimate? The possibilities are endless!

023: Professor Moriarty– The nemesis that Data accidentally creates on the Holodeck! Robot keyword, with lots of Perplex and Outwit! I’d even consider giving him a “Steal Your Transport” type of power like Nebula had back in the first GotG comics set!

024: Lt. Commander Riker– Clearly this will be the bearded version! I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s an Uncommon in the second set, so that they can make a Prime Thomas Riker!

025: Lt. Commander Geordi Laforge– He should add +2 to friendly character’s Movement speed. Or maybe even give him a Special that says: “POWER: An adjacent character may use Running Shot or Charge as FREE this turn.” That would be pretty sick.

026: Q2– In the series, he restores Q’s powers in a Season 3 episode (a rather good one, too). How that translates into Clix, I don’t know. What I do know is that this guy would–like Q himself–having Living Tribunal-levels of power.

Maybe make him another silver bullet against Colossal Retaliators and/or Cosmic characters?

027: Lal– Data’s daughter! Again, Robot keyword. Should have a special Perplex for Data.

ALSO…

5 SUPER RARES (PLUS 1 PRIME!):

028: Tam Elbrun– Wow! This Betazed had crazy mental powers that eventually grew out of control. He can read pretty much everybody’s thoughts. How you express that in game could take several forms. He should definitely have a way to cancel opposing Shape Change or Super Senses.

029: Noonian Soong– Scientist keyword. He’s the old man who created both Data and Lore. He should be the Chase Agamotto of this set, really.

030: Berlinghoff Rasmussen– Time travelling crook! I would give him a Trait where he can roll for a different power each turn (representing the different items he steals).

031: Deanna Troi– Well… we know she’s in the set. I don’t see why she would be an SR, but I don’t know yet how they’re going to translate her empathy powers into actual Clix. Anyway, this is my irresponsible speculation, so I’ll put her where I want, dammit!

032A: Data– Think Prime Deathlok from Wolverine and the X-Men. Strong Robot with Outwit and high stats but his combat potential is held back by his credo to never murder.

032B: Lore– And then of course Lore would be the opposite, with lots of Outwit and Perplex, too.

I mean, Data and Lore have to be at least one set of the Primes, right? And given Lore’s later connection to the Borg (in Season 7, I believe), it only makes sense to make them the SR flipsides.

AND FINALLY… TWO CHASES!!

033: Locutus of Borg– Okay, if the SR Prime isn’t Lore, then it would have to be Locutus. But I think Picard really needs to show up in the Rare slot, so making Locutus a Chase seems like the only other option.

034: Q– So, I think there’s a good chance Q ends up as a Super Rare. They could actually make him the SR Chase with one version wearing the Farpoint gear, and the other version wearing a Starfleet uniform (or they could do the Deja Q powerless version that ran around telling people “to change the gravitational constant of the universe” to solve complex problems). But if he’s a Chase with Trelane or Mxyptzlk-like powers only with better stats, he will really drive sales of the set.

Okay! So, there’s my version of a kickass Star Trek Gravity Feed set, and there’s still plenty of great stuff like Armus and Guinan left for the next set! Come June, we’ll see how close I got.

What do you all want from a Star Trek: TNG Clix set? Post in the Comments below!

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: Once again (and this time, with feeling!), we are shamelessly unleashing the 12 Nights of Clix-Mas! Tonight is Night 2! If you missed The First Night of Clix-Mas, you can catch up right here!]

Welcome back to the 12 Nights of Clix-Mas 2016! This is the Second Night of Clix-Mas, wherein we’ll discuss the next special Scenario we’re running at our local venue Comics & More in Madison Heights, Michigan!

The Game: Home for the Holidays

Entry Fee: $5.00

The Build: 300 Points, Golden Age. MUST BE A NAMED THEMED TEAM!!

The Restrictions: The Possession Mechanic, Call-Ins, Team Bases and Resources and Convention LE Faust are not allowed.

Themed Team rules and ATA‘s ARE allowed. Vehicles and Colossals are allowed, but only if those pieces don’t break your Theme and only if you have at least ONE other standard character on your force as well.

Constructs, Word Ballons, Horde or Bystander Tokens, Special Objects & Relics are only allowed if one of your characters brings them in at the start of the game as part of a Trait or game effect, and only if you pay any associated costs.

The Setup: After both players have placed their characters, each player (in turn order) designates one standard character on their team as a “TRAVELER.”

If a TRAVELER would be KO’d by any game effect, that TRAVELER is instead placed back in its Starting Area at the beginning of its next turn UNLESS it was the last friendly character on its own force.

Once each player has chosen theirTRAVELER, each player (in turn order) must choose aHOLIDAY HOST fromthe Table below. Their TRAVELER gains that host’s corresponding Trait.

“Auntie” Tana Nile: Give your Traveler a Power Action if that character occupies an opponent’s Starting Area and there are no opposing Drunk Relatives on the board. If you do, until the start of your next turn, friendly characters can use Improved Movement: Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Characters and opposing characters can’t ignore terrain for movement purposes even if this ability is lost. In addition, friendly characters can use Improved Targeting: Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Characters and opposing characters can’t ignore terrain for targeting purposes (except via the “Fun Uncle” Arcade ability).

“Evil Unca'” Mags: Give your Traveler a Power Action if that character occupies an opponent’s Starting Area and there are no opposing Drunk Relatives on the board. If you do, choose a square on the map. For each character occupying that square or an adjacent square, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 4-6, deal those characters 3 damage.

“Weird Uncle” Krampus: Give your Traveler a Power Action if that character occupies an opponent’s Starting Area and there are no opposing Drunk Relatives on the board. If you do, place an action token on each opposing character that is adjacent to friendly figure. These action tokens will cause pushing damage if a second token is placed and the figure doesn’t have a way to ignore pushing damage (like Willpower).

An opposing character may only have one action token placed on them this way each turn, even if they are adjacent to multiple friendly figures.

“Fun Uncle” Arcade: If your Traveler occupies an opponent’s Starting Area and there are no opposing Drunk Relatives on the board, your Traveler can use Energy Explosion and Precision Strike and may target characters anywhere on the map with a ranged combat attack regardless of range and line of fire.

(Note that this ability allows the traveler to completely bypass any targeting restrictions that “Auntie” Tana Nile might oppose. )

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Drunk Relatives: ADrunk Relativeis a special surprise character that will be distributed to each player before the game begins by the Judge. A Drunk Relative follows all normal Heroclix rules with the exception that a Drunk Relative may not be moved to or placed in any square outside of your starting zone by any game effect. A Drunk Relative can only target and be targeted by opposing characters in your Starting Area.

Basically, you want to KO your opponent

Note: Not every player will be given the same Drunk Relative!!

If a Drunk Relative is KO’d, it is scored normally by your opponent. However, a Drunk Relative is ONLY SCORED IF IT IS KO’d!!

If a Drunk Relative is the only character left on any player’s force, then the Drunk Relative may immediately choose and activate any Holiday Host power each turnAS A FREE ACTION.

The Goal: To get home safe and use your Holiday Host’s powers to destroy your opponent!

(Note that it is possible to win without KO’ing your opponent’s Drunk Relative and taking advantage of a Host ability, but it might be pretty tough… )

Okay!! That’s all for now! Post any questions about the scenario in the Comments below.

Otherwise, we’ll see you back at this space tomorrow for another Night of Clix-Mas!!

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Welcome to Evening Two of the Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas, a Critical Missives event that basically involves us trying to bring you new content for 12 straight days (leading right up to Christmas!)!!

(If you missed The First Night of Clix-mas, you can catch up right here!)

Tonight, we’re gonna go local and take a peek at how War of Light Month 6 finished at my local venue Comics & More in Madison Heights, Michigan!!

We finally played Month 6 of War of Light!

Who won? Who lost? Who took home the big prize?! Let’s go to the tape!

What I Played:

I didn’t open any figure with a point cost more than WOL054 Morro‘s 123. This was definitely new ground for me; every other month, I’ve gotten at least one thumper, if not more (tales of my ridiculous WoL luck can be viewed here and also here–particularly Round 3 of that second recap).

Actually, this is what you would call a hodgepodge of little people. On a related note, I’d forgotten how “meh” Snow White and the Huntsman was a few years ago. And why were there EIGHT dwarves again?

On paper, I think this is easily the worst team I fielded during this whole six-month adventure. But the game isn’t played on paper–it’s played on tables! Usually folding tables, actually.

Regardless, let’s get to Round 1!!

ROUND 1:

Versus:

WOLo44 Fatality – 180

(Possessed byWOL066P Butcher) – 25

WOL023 Mongul – 165

WOL016 Soranik Natu – 70

Plus the Green Lantern Battery (w/ various Constructs including The Shield)

FIGHT!!

In Round 1 I faced off once more against my once and future nemesis Roberto! This game was tense early on, with Fatality getting the first strike in on Morro. Luckily for me, this put Morro onto his Pulse Wave clicks.

The one advantage I really had here was an abundance of TK and support powers. Roberto also had Soranik Natu for TK, but I was able to keep his big hitters away from me for most of this match while picking and choosing my shots, wimpy as they usually were.

After a LOT of positioning, I was finally able to take out his Mongul with consecutive Pulse Waves from Morro (among other shots) over two turns. Then time was literally called right after, during my final move on that second turn.

The Verdict:

I won a close match with just 1 opposing figure being KO’d (Mongul). If there had been more time, I’ve no doubt Roberto would have cleared my side of the board. I was definitely overmatched here; my bag of parlor tricks would have only worked for so long. Also, Roberto did not have the best luck rolling, either.

“Oh, for the love of God, why do I keep smelling nutmeg?“

(That’s an Elementary reference, btw.)

ROUND 2:

Versus:

WOLo41 Hal Jordan (Parallax) – 250

WOL058 Galius Zed (Black Lantern) – 140

WOL033 Sister Sercy – 66

Plus the Green Lantern Battery (w/ The Shield, Crossbow and a Decoy)

FIGHT!!

Parallax (Hal Jordan) is a monster. Just an absolute badass. He won me month 2 almost single-handedly. He has one flaw, though–he doesn’t fly. Therefore, I took this fight to the many-tiered R’yut side of the map after I got lucky and won Map Roll (I had a 50/50 shot). Galius is another potentially deadly piece, but again, he walks, and my opponent could only Carry one at a time with Sister Sercy. Eventually Galius and Sister Sercy made it up a few elevation levels before the majority of my troops shot down Sister Sercy from up on the mountaintop.

Parallax having to make the long walk to Mordor on his own meant that he wasn’t a factor for most of the game. I managed to do a little damage to Galius Zed once he made it to the top, but with the Shield assigned to him, I found it hard to hit with most of my attacks. Zed finally drilled Arisia and knocked her off the mountaintop, which put her on her last click, but also out of harm’s way. The judge called time shortly after.

Content with my victory all but assured, I passed to my opponent for his last turn (since he went second) before I realized that Parallax had climbed enough of the mountain to get a perfect shot off on Soranik Natu. This was a terrible mistake, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Soranik Natu has 6 Clicks with Toughness top dial, but Parallax has 5 native damage up top plus the Crossbow, which he used to pump his damage up to 7!

My only saving grace here was that I had been consistently taking away Probability Control with the Orange Lantern Battery, so my opponent would only have one shot to KO Soranik.

Her Defense was 17. Parallax’s attack was 12 (with the Ring Bonus). Yup. A roll of ‘5’ would beat me on points, 70-66. My opponent let his dice go…

And rolled a stinkin’ ‘3.’

Oh, man! By all rights, I should have lost this game. As it was, I barely squeaked by. Here’s an photo of the immediate aftermath of our match:

The Verdict:

I really shouldn’t have, but I did win this one 66-0 after KO’ing just one of my opponent’s figures (yet again). If I can somehow pull out this next match, I may set a record for fewest points scored in a winning month.

ROUND 3:

Versus:

WOLo37 Karu-Sil – 95

WOL048 Firestorm – 140

WOL030A Guy Gardner – 103

WOL033 Sister Sercy – 66

WOL003 Sinestro Corps Recruit – 50

Plus the Yellow Lantern Battery (w/ the Red Power Ring and a bunch of Constructs)

FIGHT!!

This was a match against Matt (from yesterday’s article). We played on the same map, so the first couple turns were all about racing to the top of the map. The difference was, Matt had a few different guys who could fly. Firestorm, in particular, would prove to be quite difficult to deal with. He took out my Sister Sercy pretty quickly, while I retaliated by taking out his Sinestro Corps Recruit.

Eventually, he used The Pack from Karu-Sil’s base to take out Soranik Natu and Arisia and to really beat up Blue Lantern Hal Jordan. Things were definitely going his way, but once Soranik Natu and Arisia were KO’d, I got to finally use Morro’s Trait and place them on Morro’s card. Suddenly Morro was actually pretty intimidating.

Matt still had most of his team left, but I had Firestorm within KO Range, then hit him with another attack… which Matt quickly Prob’d. Then I rolled a ‘3.’

That, my friends is Karma!

Time was called shortly after.

The Verdict:

Even with Firestorm’s KO, I wouldn’t have had enough points to win. Had the game gone on, I would have given myself about a 20% chance of pulling it out with Super-Morro (see what I did there?!). Matt’s a great player though, and he deserved to win. The truth is he just outmaneuvered me, and his strategy absolutely worked.

The Final Result:

Matt won Month 6. While I won two of my three rounds and played in the Championship Match, my point total was so minuscule that I probably finished close to last. Still, when you totaled all the results from all the Months together, I’m proud to say that I was able to claim one last prize…

The Spoils:

(One Last Cool Moment: My venue actually had a second Nekron to give away! Our Judge gave a pretty cool speech about how the Fellowship winner this Month was someone who attended every month, had to drive a decent way each time and who was always gracious whether in victory or defeat. He was talking about Matt, my Round 3 opponent and the player who won the month. It was a really neat moment, and Matt looked pretty shocked. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Congratulations, sir!)